Has this been the worst ever Wimbledon?

The skies lifted for most of yesterday but a cloud still hangs over Wimbledon this year — literally and

metaphorically.

A number of factors, mostly but not all related to the inclement weather, have combined to make this, by common perception, the worst Wimbledon in living memory.

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The word "living" is an advisable rider since in 1922, the first year at these grounds in SW19, rain fell on every day of the Championships. With only Centre Court protected by a tarpaulin and the outside courts reduced to a quagmire, the event did not finish until the third Wednesday.

As recently as 1982, rain cascaded down the then new electronic scoreboards on 10 days of a tournament also badly disrupted by Underground and rail strikes. But tennis was box office in those days, with the likes of John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors in their pomp, and it took more than the heavens opening to dampen enthusiasm.

"This year is as bad as I can remember," said former home favourite Jo Durie, looking back on three decades here as player and radio commentator.

"It is not uplifting. There is just no energy around. People are weary of the constant rain breaks."

The drip, drip effect has served to generate hangdog expressions among players, spectators and ground staff who, in removing and replacing covers on a regular basis for the past 10 days, have more

reason than most to feel tired.

Players, a pampered and spoiled species at the worst of times, have varied in their reaction from

philosophical resignation to anger and frustration.

A grumbling majority, however, have accused the All England Club of scheduling mistakes which have exacerbated the problems and led to a bias in the draw.

"I don't understand some things," said Rafael Nadal after a third-round victory over Robin Soderling which began with a knock-up on Saturday afternoon and ended at 12.32pm yesterday.

"I don't understand why we didn't play on Sunday. The weather was OK, much better than yesterday and Monday. I don't understand why they cancel yesterday

(Tuesday) when at 8.10pm there was sunshine and we can play one hour. They don't think very much about the players here, maybe."

Asked if he still loved Wimbledon, the French Open champion replied: "After the tournament, I don't know. Right now a little bit less than when I come. The chances of the down draw is less than the up draw, no?"

To put it another way, there will be no rest for Nadal and Co in the bottom half of the draw.

There is no truth in the rumour that Roger Federer, who has not played since Friday, was told to report back on Sunday for the final.

Nor was he told to go home and that the

trophy, duly inscribed, would be sent to him.

Novak Djokovic, another to take five days to reach the last 16,

articulated the beef about not using the middle Sunday.

"That was a bad decision by the organisers," he said after his 7-6, 6-7, 6-2, 7-6 defeat of Nicolas Kiefer.

"They knew the forecast for this week is going to be bad and it was at the end of a week of a lot of rain. Sunday was a very nice day, so they would have finished the matches."

Jokingly, for he is a bit of a lad, Djokovic wrote to Ian Ritchie, the All England Lawn Tennis Club chief executive, asking why there was so much rain. Within an hour came the reply.

"He told me: 'I can be blamed for many things, for lack of entertainment, for a lot of rain, but what can I do? I assure you the roof is going to come in 2009'."

Not before time, since the removal of the previous non-sliding roof on Centre Court and the resulting effect on the atmosphere has been part of the problem this year.

When the rain has come down there has been nowhere to shelter, nowhere to generate community spirit or even, dare one say, the community singing. Misery has echoed around the arena.

The Centre Court crowd seemed happier yesterday. Not so the patrons of No 1 Court, who paid £65 a head for some pretty limited fare.

Just four games, albeit riveting, from Nadal v Soderling, the Richard Gasquet v Jo-Wilfried Tsonga encounter and a couple of mixed doubles did not amount to the strongest line-up.

The fans have been voting with their feet as well as faces. Shorter queues and lower attendances have been a feature of the fortnight, with the collection point at Gate Five daily reporting bunches of tickets not picked up. This would have been unheard of in previous years.

It surely cannot be that Wimbledon spectators have replaced

stoicism with parochialism.

Can it really be that the withdrawal of Andy Murray, the second round defeat of Tim Henman and the

failure of any other British man to win a set in the singles turned

tennis fans off and away?

With no World Cup or any other major sporting event in competition this summer, this was a real chance for Wimbledon to take its place in the sun, but the sun has not shone.

Apart from Henman's first round win, matches have been epic only in length. Sadly, the drama and excitement on court which is such a compelling feature of Wimbledon has rarely been evident this time.

And the only rhythm created in this on-off world has been that of the raindrops beating on the inflated covers.

"I actually like the rain," said Maria Sharapova. She seemed to be in a minority of one.